Apparatus for parting adhering bodies

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for parting adhering bodies in which two jaws, operative to frictionally engage each one body, are connected to a common holder through arms diverging towards the jaws and, hence, effective to spread them apart by a sort of toggle-joint action, when the holder is pressed towards the bodies. A counterholder is provided to engage the opposite side of the bodies.

United States Patent Goransson Feb. 18, 1975 APPARATUS FOR PARTING ADHERING [56] References Cited BODIES UNITED STATES PATENTS [75] Inventor: Rolf Erik G'oransson, Akarp, 3,428,192 2/1969 Witmer 214/8.5 A Sweden 3,635,440 1/1972 Gompel 254/93 R 3,662,990 5/1972 Barnett et al. 254/93 R Assignefii lnternationella SiPOreX e ag 3,662,994 5/1972 Johns 254/93 R Malmo, Sweden 5 Primary Examiner0thell M. Simpson 2 73 l2 1 Filed Dec 11 19 Attorney, Agent, or F1rmFred C. Phllpitt [21] Appl. No.: 423,826

[57] ABSTRACT [30] Foreign A fi ti priority Data An apparatus for parting adhering bodies in which two 21 1972 Sweden 5833/72 jaws, operative to frictionally engage each one body,

' are connected to a common holder through arms di- [52] U 5 Cl 254/93 R 29/239 29/252 verging towards the jaws and, hence, effective to 214/8 5 spread them apart by a sort of toggle-joint action, [51] Int C1 B6 5 when the holder is pressed towards the bodies. A [58] Fie'ld counterholder is provided to engage the opposite side 214/85 A, 8.5 K; 294/88, 87 R of the bodies.

7 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures o o o -2- LMJ PATENTEB FEB] 8 INS 1 APPARATUS FOR PARTING ADHERING BODIES' This invention relates to an apparatus for forcing apart a pair of bodies which adhere to each other with substantially planar surfaces and both of which have two opposite and free side surfaces located in a pair of parallel planes which are substantially normal to the adhering body surfaces.

Such an apparatus is particularly useful in the production of slabs or blocks of cellular lightweight concrete, where it frequently happens that the products adhere more or less firmly to one another after having been steam-hardened in a close relationship.

In a previously known apparatus for the purpose in question, separate pairs of opposed jaw means, in a first step of operation of the apparatus, were pressed against the opposite side surfaces of the two bodies to be parted by first actuator means so as to firmly clamp and frictionally engage each body separately and then these two pairs of body-gripping jaw means, in a second step of operation, were forced apart by second actuator means. Accordingly, the known apparatus became rather complex and, above all, the operation thereof was objectionably slow.

It is the aim of this invention to provide an improved apparatus for the purpose set forth, which is not structurally simple and efficient but also capable of accomplishing the desired body-parting operation with considerable speed.

According to the invention this is primarily achieved by an apparatus for forcing apart a pair of bodies which adhere to each other with substantially planar surfaces and both of which have two opposite and free side surfaces located in a pair of planes which, at least approximately, are parallel and at right angles to the adhering body surfaces, said apparatus comprising first jaw means operative to frictionally engage one side surface of one of the two bodies,'second jaw means operative to frictionally engage the corresponding side surface of the other body, counterholding means operative to engage the opposite side surface of the two bodies, holder means connected to said first and second jaw means and common to them, actuator means for varying the distance between said holder means and said counterholding means and operatable to forcibly reduce the distance between said holder means and the bodies, and means movably connecting said holder means to each of said first and second jaw means in a manner to bring about forced spreading of said jaw means after their engagement with the two bodies, when the distance between said holder means and the bodies is reduced.

As can be readily understood, in an improved apparatus of this kind there are two separate main components or units, one on each side of the two bodies to be parted, viz. the counterholder means on one side, and the combination of jaw and holder means on the other side, and these two components or units are basically independent. Accordingly, it is an easy task to adjust the apparatus for handling bodies of different sizes. Also, the body-clamping and body-parting operations will be accomplished in direct succession by one single stroke of the actuator means. The counterholding unit may be passive, which is mostly preferred, or may take active part in the operation of the apparatus, if so desired, and in the latter case it may be formed as a re versed counterpart of the jaw and bolder unit so that the apparatus becomes substantially symmetrical. All these advantages makes the improved apparatus particularly useful and valuable.

For further elucidation of the invention an embodiment thereof will now be more closely described with reference made to the accompanying drawing, in which FIG. I is a slightly diagrammatic elevation of an apparatus for forcing apart mutually adhering slabs of cellular lightweight concrete and illustrating a first step of operation thereof,

FIG. 2 is an elevation similar to that shown in FIG. 1 but illustrating a second step of operation thereof, and

FIG. 3 is again a similar elevation showing the various parts of the apparatus in inoperative positions after the accomplishment of a full operation cycle.

In the drawing, numerals 1, 2 and 3 designate three parallelepipedic slabs of steam-hardened cellular lightweight concrete forming a regular pile on a lifting table 4. When the pile of slabs is first received in the apparatus, adjacent slabs in the pile are'supposed to firmly adhere to each other, and it is the task of the apparatus to detach them from one another. Accordingly, in FIG. I the uppermost slab 1 has its planar bottom surface 1b adhering to the top surface 20 of the intermediate slab 2, and the latter has its planar bottom surface 2b adhering to the top surface 3a of the lowermost slab 3. The slab 1 has opposite side surfaces 10 and 1d, and the slabs 2 and 3 have corresponding opposite side surfaces 20, 2d and 3c, 3d, respectively. These opposite side surfaces of all the slabs are free and exposed and located in a pair of parallel planes, which are perpendicular to the adhering surfaces lb, 2a and 2b, 3a.

In addition to the lifting table 4, and on one side thereof, the apparatus comprises an actuator represented by a hydraulic cylinder 5 having its one end hinged to an upright support 6 by means of a pivot pin 7. From the opposite end of the cylinder 5 projects a piston rod 8, to the outer end of which a holder 9 is secured. Two diverging link-like arms 10 and 11 are hingedly connected to the holder 9 by means of a common pivot pin 12. A first jaw 13 is by means of a pivot pin 14 hingedly connected to the free end of the arm 10, and in a similar manner a second jaw 15 is by means of a pivot pin 16 hingedly connected to the free end of the arm 11. It is to be noted that all the pivot pins 7, l2, l4 and 16 are parallel and horizontal. The horizontal positions of the pins depends, of course, on the horizontal extent of the adhering slab surfaces.

Each of the two jaws l3 and 15 has a frictionincreasing, preferably elastic covering 17 on the side facing the pile of slabs. A projection 18 on the holder 9 forms an abutment for the two diverging arms 10 and 11 and defines the minimum angle between them. A bracket 19 on the support 6 forms a rest for the cylinder 5 and defines the direction inwhich the holder 9 will initially move, when actuated. The lower arm 11 is biased into contact with the projection 18 by means of a leaf spring 20, while the upper arm 10 is urged towards the same projection by gravity. However, both the cylinder 5 and the upper arm 10 may be springactuated towards their initial positions, shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, if needed. In addition, spring means, not shown, are provided between the arms 10 and 11 and their respective jaws l3 and 15 in order to yieldingly keep the covered faces of the two jaws in a common 3 plane and ready for contact with the slabs as illustrated in FIG. 3.

On the other side of the lifting table 4 the apparatus comprises a counterholder arrangement, which may take many different forms but in the example chosen for illustration comprises a rigid upright support 21 having two toggle-joint devices 22 and 23, one for each of two jaws 24 and 25, mounted thereon. In all essential respects the jaws 24 and 25 are simliar to the jaws 13 and 15, but they have their covered surfaces turned in the opposite direction. The two toggle-joint devices 22 and 23 are supported by brackets 26 and 27, respectively, projecting laterally from the support 21, and each toggle-joint device consists of two link members hingedly connected to each other and to an actuating member 28, which is common to both toggle-joint devices. By means of an actuator 29 the member 28 may be vertically moved to Shift the two toggle-joint devices between an operative position, shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and an inoperative position, shown in FIG. 3.

In the inoperative position of the toggle-joint devices, the jaws 24 and 25 are retracted and spaced from the slabs on the lifting table 4, but when the toggle-joint devices are shifted into operative position, the two jaws 24 and 25 will be firmly pressed against the left-hand side surface of each one slab, i.e., against the side surfaces 1c and 2c of the slabs l and 2 in FIGS. 1 and 2. The jaws 24 and 25 are hingedly connected to their respective toggle-joint devices and, like the jaws 13 and 15, always ready for flat contact with the slabs. At least the upper jaw 24 must be capable of a certain angular movement also in its operative position, as can be seen from FIG. 2.

It should be understood that the left-hand counterholder unit here shown and described is a more or less passive part of the apparatus, while the right-hand part of the apparatus is the active one. However, it does not need to be so, because the-counterholder unit to the left may be replaced, if so desired, by a reversed counterpart of the right-hand part of the apparatus, so that the apparatus becomes more or less symmetrical, provided, of course, that the two active parts are then operated synchronously.

The operation of the apparatus shown and described is as follows: When the various parts of the apparatus are in their inoperative positions substantially as shown in FIG. 3, the pile of slabs l, 2, 3 is placed on the lifting table 4, and the latter is vertically adjusted to let two of the slabs register with the jaws. The actuator 29 is energized to pull the two toggle-joint devices 22 and 23, whereby the two left hand jaws 24 and 25 will move into operative positions, in which the jaw 24 is firmly pressed against the side surface of slab 1 and the jaw 25 is firmly pressed against the side surface of slab 2.

It should be understood that the left-hand jaws 24 and are not supposed to move the pile of slabs by pushing but only to brace it so that it will not yield during the accomplishment of the body-parting operation now to take place, and that the counterholder unit has here been made adjustable as shown and described for convenience and because the apparatus chosen for illustration is designed to handle a vertical pile of slabs, the position of which can only be vertically adjusted.

The body-parting operation proper is accomplished by supplying pressure fluid to the actuator 5 in a manner to let the piston and piston rod 8 thereof push the holder 9 towards the left from its most retracted position as in FIG. 3. This will first cause the two righthand jaws l3 and 15 to firmly engage their respective body surfaces 1d and 2d as illustrated in FIG. 1, while they are still at a minimum distance from each other. Then, when pressure fluid is continuously supplied to the actuator so that the holder 9 is further pressed towards the slabs l and 2, while the jaws l3 and 15 are positively prevented from moving further to the left by firm contact with the slabs, the arms 10 and 11 will instead start pushing said jaws away from each other as shown in FIG. 2, thus breaking apart the two bodies.

Since the slab 2 is in the present case immovable. only the upper right-hand jaw 13 will be able to move and, accordingly, the holder 9 will be slightly elevated while lifting the cylinder 5 from the bracket 19 as illustrated.

When parting of the two bodies 1 and 2 in the pile is thus achieved, the holder 9 with its jaws l3 and 15 is again retracted by a reverse stroke of the actuator piston in cylinder 5, andthe counterholder jaws 24 and 25 are moved to their inoperative positions as in FIG. 3 to free the piled slabs. Now, the detached upper slab 1 may be removed, if desired, but there is nothing to pre' vent it from remaining freely rested on top of the pile. With the pile free, the lifting table 4 is vertically adjusted to place the next pair of slabs 2 and 3 in position for the next operating cycle of the apparatus, which will be identical to the one already described.

Of course, any desired number of superposed and adheringslabs can be parted in succession in the apparatus, and the operator is free to start either from the top or from the bottom of the pile. Also, if additional means for temporarily locking the right-hand jaws l3 and 15 together are provided so that these jaws are prevented from moving apart, the apparatus may be operated to grip the lowermost slabs in a pile and to keep the entire pile in an elevated position while, for instance, the lifting table 4 is lowered and'a carriage is pushed in to take over the piled slabs for moving them away from the apparatus.

The various body-engaging jaws of the apparatus may have any desired length, as seen in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing, and, if they are long, multiple toggle-joint mechanisms on the counterholder side and multiple holders and actuators on the opposite side may be used to operate them. On the other hand, it is also possible to use several complete counterholder units on one side of a pile of slabs and several complete actuator and jaw-holder units on the other, provided that the latter are adapted to operate in complete synchronism, as the slabs could otherwise be subjected to detrimental stresses.

As can be readily understood from the foregoing description, the operation of the apparatus is primarily based on the action of the diverging arms 10 and 11, which is somewhat similar to that of the links in a toggle-joint mechanism. It should also be understood that this action results from a certain distribution of applied forces in a geometrical system rather than in the detailed configuration of the various members forming that system. Accordingly, there are many ways to modify the connection between the two jaws l3 and 15 and the holder 9 without deviating from the inventive idea. For example, the two arms 10 and 11 may be replaced by a single elliptic spring having its ends connected to the jaws and its centre hingedly connected to the holder. Also more complex systems of combined links or springs may be resorted to in order to more exactly direct the jaws and guide them during operation. Also the jaws may be shaped to conform to possible grooves v in or ridges on the exposed side surfaces of the slabs.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for forcing apart a pair of bodies which adhere to each other with substantially planar surfaces and both of which have two opposite and free side surfaces located in a pair of planes which, at least approximately, are parallel and at right angles to the adhering body surfaces, said apparatus comprising first jaw means operative to frictionally engage one side surface of one of the two bodies, second jaw means operative to frictionally engage the corresponding side surface of the other body, counterholding means operative to engage the opposite side surface of the two bodies, holder means connected to said first and second jaw means and common to them, actuator means for varying the distance between said holder means and said counterholding means and operatable to forcibly reduce the distance between said holder means and the bodies, and means movably connecting said holder means to each of said first and second jaw means in a manner to bring about forced spreading of said jaw means after their engagement with the two bodies, when the distance between said holder means and the bodies is reduced.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said holder means are connected to said actuator means to be moved towards and away from said counterholding means and, hence, relative to the bodies to be parted.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said connecting means comprise at least one pair of arms diverging from said holder means towards their respective jaw means and yieldable to increase the angle between them to thereby increase the mutual distance between said first and second jaw means.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 3 wherein said arms are rigid links hingedly connected to said holder means in a toggle-joint fashion, means being provided on said holder means to define a minimum angle between said links.

5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said first and second jaw means have body-engaging, covered faces directed towards said counter-holding means.

6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said counterholding means comprise a pair of movable body-engaging jaws.

7. An apparatus as claimed in claim 6 wherein said counterholder jaws are movable to and from the bodies to be parted under the actuation of toggle-joint devices. l i= l 

1. An apparatus for forcing apart a pair of bodies which adhere to each other with substantially planar surfaces and both of which have two opposite and free side surfaces located in a pair of planes which, at least approximately, are parallel and at right angles to the adhering body surfaces, said apparatus comprising first jaw means operative to frictionally engage one side surface of one of the two bodies, second jaw means operative to frictionally engage the corresponding side surface of the other body, counterholding means operative to engage the opposite side surface of the two bodies, holder means connected to said first and second jaw means and common to them, actuator means for varying the distance between said holder means and said counterholding means and operatable to forcibly rEduce the distance between said holder means and the bodies, and means movably connecting said holder means to each of said first and second jaw means in a manner to bring about forced spreading of said jaw means after their engagement with the two bodies, when the distance between said holder means and the bodies is reduced.
 2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said holder means are connected to said actuator means to be moved towards and away from said counterholding means and, hence, relative to the bodies to be parted.
 3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said connecting means comprise at least one pair of arms diverging from said holder means towards their respective jaw means and yieldable to increase the angle between them to thereby increase the mutual distance between said first and second jaw means.
 4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 3 wherein said arms are rigid links hingedly connected to said holder means in a toggle-joint fashion, means being provided on said holder means to define a minimum angle between said links.
 5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said first and second jaw means have body-engaging, covered faces directed towards said counter-holding means.
 6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said counterholding means comprise a pair of movable body-engaging jaws.
 7. An apparatus as claimed in claim 6 wherein said counterholder jaws are movable to and from the bodies to be parted under the actuation of toggle-joint devices. 